Murphy's Law

Yesterday, Wednesday, morning I woke up to Eric on the couch saying he was so cold that he couldn't move and couldn't eat strawberries from the fridge because they were too cold. When I took his temp it was 40.4! I called our Nurse Clinician who said they could see him in clinic today so we didn't have to go through Emergency first. Conveniently, it was also Eric's doctor's clinic day so we got the continuity of our own team. Eric's fever was so high that I didn't bother to pack a bag because I just wanted to get here. Unfortunately, Eric vomited before we left; between that, getting dressed (me) and late rush hour traffic, we didn't get here until just after 9:30. 

Eric was feeling so, so miserable when we got here. Once his nurse finished with vitals, accessing his port, bloodwork, nasal swab (ouch!) and got his meds started, he fell asleep. This was surprising to me as he won't sleep during the day for anything! Even when he's given Gravol and Benadryl at the hospital, he fights the sleep! His nurse came in to check his temp again and it was over 41 degrees; that is 106 Fahrenheit! So we had to wake him up to give him some Tylenol and he just went right back to sleep. The doctor stopped by to let me know that Eric would be admitted. This is where Murphy's Law comes in. Eric's class had a field trip scheduled for today (Thursday) and I volunteered to drive 4 kids! Thank goodness another parent was able to cover for me. 

He slept until about 12:15 and when he woke up, his fever had broken. He was getting steadily better through yesterday afternoon. We got into our room in the outpatient ward around 4pm and the amazing Child Life Specialist left Eric his favourite game to play at the hospital - Llama Matching - so of course we had to play that immediately, and then we played War. Since I didn't pack a bag, Chuck packed up some clothes and comfort items (Thank you for my travel kettle/thermos Laura!) for us yesterday afternoon and brought those in. One of the things he brought was a gift that Uncle Jon had chosen from our Amazon Wish List after Eric's last hospital stay. I kept it secret from Eric to await our next hospital stay and he was so excited yesterday to see a Lego set that he has been wishing for! He built 4 of the 14 bags before bed last night and was telling his nurse all about it! 

He woke up at 3:15am when his nurse came in for vitals and bloodwork and he was chatting up a storm all about his Lego! He woke up again at 5:45 and 6:15 to ask me if it was time to wake up yet. He woke up again at 6:45 and decided it was close enough to 7 that he could wake up and get started on his Lego. 

From all the cultures and swabs, he did get one positive, for the common cold! Even in Eric, that should not cause a fever of 41 degrees. We haven't seen the doctor yet today, but I think this relates back to the adrenal insufficiency again. The cold stressed out his body (even though he didn't have any symptoms?!?!) and his body wasn't able to produce cortisol to respond so he needed a stress dose of steroid, which I could give him at home if I knew it was happening! Since he didn't get the steroid he needed, his body responded with fever and nausea. 

He hasn't had a fever since noon yesterday, he's full of energy this morning and his blood counts are pretty good. His neutrophils (germ fighting white cells) were low yesterday, but today have more than doubled. Usually a fever would buy us a minimum 48 hour stay, and of course we are on contact precautions (not allowed to leave our room and use communal areas) because of the positive swab. 

Eric said "this is a pretty good dinner"  - Bugs & Cheese from Boston Pizza, Lego and TV! Pic below.